Google Sidewiki Now Available in All Web Browsers

Earlier last month Google introduced Google Sidewiki. Initially, I had a problem with it. Largely, because of two reasons. One, it was available only for FireFox and Internet Explorer via Google Toolbar. And two, users couldn’t syndicate their contributed content on a blog. A few weeks later, Google updated Sidewiki and offered users the option to send comments to Blogger. Somewhat satisfied, but still largely frustrated, I then figured out a way to send Sidewiki Comments to WordPress. At that point, I felt like using Google Sidewiki was worth the effort. But, only one of the two problems I saw were corrected. As it stood, Sidewiki was still not available for other web browsers. Specifically, Safari, Chrome (how ironic), and Opera. That was case up until the last week of October when Google introduced the official bookmarket for Sidewiki.

The official bookmarklet for Sidewiki lets you read and write Sidewiki comments in all web browsers. The bookmarklet is nothing more than a simple shortcut that is dragged into the browser bookmarks bar. When a users click on the shortcut, it opens a new window showing Sidewiki comments for the active page being viewed.

Certain Sidewiki features are not available such as the notification bar. But despite that, I am still very satisfied with the accommodations Google is making for users. And it’s to their benefit too. In other words, offering users the ability to use Sidewiki is all browsers is a feature that should have been available from the get go. Same with sending comments to blogs, and not just limiting the sharing to Blogger either.

Finally, after almost two months, Google Sidewiki has become something that has changed how I contribute and publish content on the web. Every Sidewiki entry I create automatically gets published into my Google Sidewiki Comments category on my blog.

VN:F [1.9.10_1130]

please wait...

Rating: 4.8/5 (3 votes cast)

Google Sidewiki Now Available in All Web Browsers, 4.8 out of 5 based on 3 ratings